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Anthropogenic activities experienced a pause due to the nationwide lockdown, imposed to contain the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the third week of March 2020. The impacts of suspension of industrial activities, vehicular transport and other businesses for three months (25 March-30 June) on the environmental settings of Chennai, a coastal megacity was assessed. A significant reduction in the key urban air pollutants [PM 2.5 (66.5%), PM 10 (39.5%), NO 2 (94.1%), CO (29%), O 3 (45.3%)] was recorded as an immediate consequence of the reduced anthropogenic activities. Comparison of water quality of an urban river Adyar, between pre-lockdown and lockdown, showed a substantial drop in the dissolved inorganic N (47%) and suspended particulate matter (41%) during the latter period. During the pandemic, biomedical wastes in India showed an overall surge of 17%, which were predominantly plastic. FTIR-ATR analysis confirmed the polymers such as polypropylene (25.4%) and polyester (15.4%) in the personal protective equipment.

To document the impact of naphthalene, a comparative toxicological research was performed in the estuarine crab Scylla tranquebarica habitant of Ennore creek (polluted site) and Kovalam creek (pristine site) for a period of 6 months. The biochemical constituents, such as protein, carbohydrate, lipid and enzyme activities like acid and alkaline phosphatase, aspartate and alanine transaminase were analysed in hepatopancreas, heamolymph and ovary of the female crabs collected from the two creeks. The results revealed that there was a significant measurable difference in these parameters in the tissues of crabs sampled from the polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) polluted site (Ennore creek) when compared with the reference site (Kovalam creek). In addition naphthalene was detected in gill, hepatopancrease, heamolymph and ovary of the crabs sampled from the polluted creek. The results indicate that the indicators selected for toxic impact in S. tranquebarica may be related to the uptake of naphthalene in the tissues examined and support the feasibility of employing these types of analyses as biochemical biomarkers for PAH contaminant-exposed organisms.

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This study reports an updated checklist of marine shrimps found along the Indian coast, including the Lakshadweep and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.  A total of 364 species classified under 128 genera belonging to the order Decapoda is reported, thus adding 27 species to the existing checklist of 337 species.  Marine shrimps are classified under two suborders of the order Decapoda, viz., Dendrobranchiata and Pleocyemata, and the two suborders account for 155 (42.6 %) and 209 species (57.4 %) of these 364 species, respectively.  Pleocyemata is represented by three infraorders, viz., Axiidea, Caridea and Stenopodidea, while Caridea has a maximum of 199 reported species. Among the 12 superfamilies, Penaeoidea contributed to 38.13% (135 species) followed by Paleaemonidea with 18.07% (64 species).  All other superfamilies were found to contribute less than 12%.  Superfamilies, Bresilloidea and Psalidopodoidea had only single species representatives (0.28% each).  The final list was compiled after reviewing all existing literature including monographs, catalogues, checklists, websites and fishery reports. The scientific names were validated with the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) database.  A total of 25 issues were identified from the previous checklist out of which 19 species have been updated with the correct, accepted names and six species have been removed from the previous list.

We compile an up-to-date checklist of 26 species of marine snakes known from the Indian coastlines. We furnish information on the original orthography, authorship, date of publication, current binominal representation, synonymy and chresonymy lists for each recognized taxon.  In addition, we provide details of name-bearing types, repository and type locality (both original and subsequent restrictions where applicable) of the prevailing nomen for all recognized species.  We summarise the history of research on Indian marine snakes from Linnaeus to the present day, including taxonomic and regional treatises, and highlight the taxonomic flux.  We also provide a revised key for this group to facilitate easier identification and support effective conservation.